Glasgow Coma Scale: Linguistic-Cultural Adaptation of the Russian Version

INTRODUCTION Determination of the degree of depression of consciousness in patients with brain damage upon admission to the intensive care unit and intensive therapy is a primary task. In order to carry out a quick and at the same time sufficiently complete assessment of this kind, in 1974 neurosurgeons Graham Teasdale and Bryan Jennett from the University of Glasgow developed an algorithm consisting of a sequential series of tests in the form of eye opening, speech and motor responses, called Glasgow Coma Scale. This scale has received worldwide recognition and for many decades has been the main one for determining the state of consciousness in the most severe patients with brain damage. The absence of a validated version of this scale complicates its application in Russia, and the use of currently available versions that have not passed all the necessary stages of validation distorts the originally intended meaning of the scale and does not allow obtaining reliable clinical results when examining patients with acute impairment of consciousness.AIM OF STUDY Development of the official Russian­language version of the Glasgow Coma Scale, taking into account linguistic and cultural characteristics (1st stage of the validation study).MATERIAL AND METHODS The staff of Center for Validation of Health Status Questionnaires and Scales in Russia, Research Center of Neurology obtained consent from G. Teasdale to validate Glasgow Coma Scale in Russia. Two Russian­speaking professional certified translators in the field of medicine performed a direct translation of the original English­language scale, and a reverse translation was carried out by native speakers with a medical education. Pilot study was performed in 15 patients with acute impairment of consciousness, two meetings of the expert committee were held (before and after pilot study).RESULTS Based on the results of the first meeting of the expert commission, a linguistic and cultural adaptation of the text of the scale was carried out. During the pilot testing of the researchers did not have difficulties in understanding and interpreting instructions. As a result, the second meeting of the expert commission was held and the final Russian­language version was approved, which is presented in this article and is available on the website of Center for Validation of Health Status Questionnaires and Scales in Russia, Research Center of Neurology.CONCLUSION For the first time, the Russian language version of the Glasgow Coma Scale was officially presented and recommended for use both in clinical and research practice in Russia and other Russian speaking countries. The next publication will highlight the result of assessing the psychometric properties (reproducibility, inter­expert agreement and sensitivity) of the Russian­language version of the scale.

Overcoming the Issue of Language Barriers with Cantonese Speaking Families When Researching the Impact of Developmental Disability.

Cross-cultural studies in East-Asia are needed in educational psychology research because past-studies have found that having a child in the family with a developmental disability can induce feelings of stress, impose major psychological and social adjustments, increase the burden of care and place the entire family at risk. Chinese participants have been under-represented in family studies for some time and language issues have been identified as a recurrent barrier to research participation by Chinese samples. The three major reasons for non-participation are the lack of translated materials, feeling intimidated by English, and the lack of translation of key words. To increase participation in survey research projects, it is clear that first one must remove language barriers. The Impact on Family Scale [1] is a measure that has repeatedly shown good construct validity in assessing the impact of chronic illness on family functioning. Like many health status questionnaires, the Impact on Family Scale was developed in an English-speaking country. The aim of the present study was to develop a Hong Kong Chinese version of the Impact on Family Scale for parents of children with autism to make it culturally viable for Cantonese speaking and traditional script reading participants.

Exploring Fear of Falling and Exercise Self-Efficacy in Older Women With Vertebral Fractures

Fear of falling is a common issue among older adults, which decreases quality of life and leads to an avoidance of activities they are still able to do. The goal of this secondary data analysis was to explore the relationship between fear of falling and exercise self-efficacy in 141 women with at least one nontraumatic Genant Grade 2 vertebral fracture. Fear of falling, exercise self-efficacy, history of falling, the number of falls, the use of assisting devices, and pain at rest or during movement were obtained using medical history and health status questionnaires. There was a negative association between fear of falling and exercise self-efficacy (pseudo R2 = .253; p = .004), which persisted when the analysis was adjusted for history and number of falls, use of assistive devices, and pain at rest (pseudo R2 = .329; p < .0001) or during movement (pseudo R2 = .321; p < .0001). Fear of falling may be negatively associated with exercise self-efficacy in older women with vertebral fracture.

Abstract 13: Advance Directives in Heart Failure Patients

Background: Heart failure (HF) has an overall poor prognosis, with only half of patients surviving more than 5 years after diagnosis. Although it is recommended that all patients with HF have advance directives (ADs) in place before the end of life is imminent, the use of ADs in these patients has not been well studied. Methods: We prospectively enrolled all Olmsted County residents presenting with active HF from October 2007 through October 2011 into a longitudinal community cohort study which included an echocardiogram and administration of health status questionnaires at enrollment. Information from ADs completed prior to enrollment was manually abstracted from the patient’s medical record. Results: A total of 608 patients were enrolled during the study period (mean age 74.0 years, 54.9% male, 49.9% with preserved EF [EF≥50%], 65.3% NYHA functional class 3 or 4). Mortality was high; 164 (27.0%) patients died after a mean follow-up of 1.8 years with estimated 1-year mortality of 14.3%. At the time of enrollment, only 249 (41.0%) patients had ADs, and they were completed an average of 3.3 years prior. Although most ADs appointed a proxy decision-maker (91.1%), less than half addressed patient wishes regarding use of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (41.4%), mechanical ventilation (38.7%), administration of artificial nutrition (38.6%), or hemodialysis (10.0%) at the end of life. AD use was more common in older individuals (p<0.001); 60.7% of those ≥80 years had an AD vs. 13.6% of those who were <60 years old. While ADs were more common in women than men (46.7% vs. 36.2%, respectively) and in those with preserved EF (47.2% vs. 34.0% in those with reduced EF), differences were not significant after adjustment for age. AD use was no more common in patients with worse NYHA functional class or health status as measured by the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire. Conclusions: Despite a high mortality rate, over half of community patients with HF do not have ADs, and existing AD fail to address important medical decisions common at the end of life. Further work is needed to identify potential barriers to AD use in HF patients, and to determine whether their use has any impact on patient outcomes, including end of life resource utilization.